What is a living shoreline?

Living Shorelines Support Resilient Communities

Living shorelines use plants or other natural elements — sometimes in combination with harder shoreline structures — to stabilize estuarine coasts, bays, and tributaries.

• One square mile of salt marsh stores the carbon equivalent of 76,000 gal of gas annually.
• Marshes trap sediments from tidal waters, allowing them to grow in elevation as sea level rises.
• Living shorelines improve water quality, provide fisheries habitat, increase biodiversity, and promote recreation.
• Marshes and oyster reefs act as natural barriers to waves. 15 ft of marsh can absorb 50% of incoming wave energy.
• Living shorelines are more resilient against storms than bulkheads.
• 33% of shorelines in the U.S. will be hardened by 2100, decreasing fisheries habitat and biodiversity.
• Hard shoreline structures like bulkheads prevent natural marsh migration and may create seaward erosion.